


between waking and sleeping I’ve got you

by Cefhclwords



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 07:28:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20131609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cefhclwords/pseuds/Cefhclwords
Summary: Eric has a nightmare. Dele is there for him.





	between waking and sleeping I’ve got you

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil prompt fill from my tumblr that I never posted here! :) enjoy my loves

It’s as close to being shot as Eric can imagine, waking up like this. 

Whenever he has sleep paralysis, it’s like hitting the break hard in a car hurting forward, but instead of your body going through the windshield, it’s more like your soul flies through it and then slams back into you.

He shudders into waking, and his muscles are the last to know, his brain flickers up with worry but his muscles are heavy and thick, feels tied down and sunk deep into the mattress, sweat dripping around his neck and back, along his hairline, the backs of his knees.

Eric’s eyes are working overtime in the dark, small, jumping lazy blinks as he fights hard to keep himself out of sleep, heart hammering in fear at the thought of slipping back into his nightmare. He was awake enough to blink, wiggle his toes and fingers, but still unable to fully sit up. Eric could feel each of his pulse points hammering under his skin, and he finally was awake enough fling himself up, gasping out as he shivered through his whole body.

As Eric tried to settle himself, his whole body felt as though it was tingling with pins and needles, but without the prickling sensation, just fuzzy and heavy and numb. His head pounded and Eric let out a whine without realising, a soft whimper as his body prickled with the stress and tension of the nightmare.

Eric’s hands grasped at the covers and felt stupid when his eyes began to sting with tears. It wasn’t so much the actual content of the dream that had him feeling so lost, rather the feeling the nightmare had given him.

Eric’s mind flickered through the vague flashes of darkness and hurt, unable to set his mind on one key aspect of the dream that had sent him into a tailspin; feeling sick and lonely and weak, isolate and heartbroken.

He couldn’t clear his own ahead and his room felt like a dark, empty foreign space. Ever since getting his appendix out, Eric had started to suffer with sleep paralysis more frequently. He’d had one or two bouts of it when he was younger, his mum explaining that it wasn’t real and that he needed to just keep himself calm and tell himself to wake up, instead of struggling against his immovable body.

However, Since the surgery he was getting the sleep paralysis nightmares at least once or two times a month. He’s googled it when they had started up, confused as to why he was suddenly struggling with the sleeping issue when he hadn’t before, and had read an article about how surgery may cause sleep paralysis as a remaining consequence to the feeling of being made unconscious with the anesthetic.

Eric wiggled his fingers and toes, as he tried to centre himself. Home, he was home he was at home and he could move and breath and he was ok, he was fine. He let out a shuddering, heavy breath and thick and he couldn’t control it, he couldn’t real it back in- fuck he felt so stupid and weak as his breath hiccuped.

“Eric?” Dele’s voice was thick with sleep, groggy and slightly slurred, and his hand reached out to rest on the low Eric’s back from where the man was sat up in their bed.

“Wha’s wrong?” He asked, drawing a finger over the line of Eric’s spine, feeling the radiating warmth of his skin under touch. Absently he worried if Eric was sick again, the skin almost felt feverish to half asleep Dele.  
Eric didn’t reply, but Dele watched him shudder and his shoulders slump toward a bit further, a soft almost missed sniffle reaching Dele’s ears.

Shit.

Dele shuffled down the bed just slightly, half sitting, propped up by his forearm as he leant in to Eric, pressing a few kisses to the warm skin of his back. He hummed and exhale softly over where his lips were pressed near the base Eric’s ribs. The kisses were tired and lazy as Dele attempted to wake up fully so he could comfort Eric properly. 

“S’alright babe” Dele whispered, hand petting down Eric’s side with his free hand, feeling the beads of sweat and frowning.

Dele pushed up off the bed and sat up behind Eric, his arm wrapping around the low of Eric’s stomach as he slotted himself behind the other man, his legs on either side of Eric’s. “Come here” Dele cooed, Laying them back against the pillows as Eric lay against his chest.

“It was only a dream” Dele whispered to him, hands moving to collect each of Eric’s in his own, squeezing them lightly. Eric had told him a few times now, that whenever he had particularly horrible nightmares, the ones where he couldn’t move- pinned the bed by a hidden weight as he struggled- his body felt weird after.

Dele knew his hands always felt numb and he felt distant from his body, shivery as he tried to settle from it. “Just a dream” Dele kissed a line up behind Eric’s ear, tangling their hands together so that they were holding hands properly now, Dele’s thumbs brushing over the back of Eric’s hands gently.

“Just a dream amor, I’m right here” Dele mumbled, nuzzling his nose into the line of Eric’s neck, sucking a few lazy kisses there.

Eric huffed and squeezed Dele’s hands where they were wrapped up with his own, thankful for the way feeling had started to settle back into them. “Del” he managed to breath out, shivering again as he tried to focus on the body pressed to his own.

“I’m here amor, I’ve got you, just another bad dream yeah? You’re ok now” Dele reassured Eric, words girl as he tried to quell the boys blind panic. “Hey” Dele whispered when he felt Eric give a shiver, trailing kisses along the strong one of Eric’s shoulder, the sharp smell of sweat evident. Jesus, must have been a bad one.

“Hey Eric focus on me” Dele breathed, hand moving to wrap around his bicep, thumb rubbing lazy circles over the skin, getting Eric’s attention finally, turning in Dele’s arms so that he could look up at him. “You’re alright amor, I’ll make sure you’re ok” Dele promised, leaning in to kiss Eric’s nose softly, cupping his face in his free hand.

‘You’re alright” Dele breathed before he sealed their lips in a kiss, thumb brushing away a few of Eric’s stray tears. “Couldn’t- couldn’t move, but you were there too” he confessed, finally reaching for Dele properly, his hands wrapping around Dele’s sides holding him firmly, keeping his close.

“I was there?” Dele asked softly, hand sliding from Eric’s face to the back of his neck, using his knuckles to rub away any tension at the top of his spine. He pulled back so he could look into Eric’s eyes but eric just huffed, twisting his fingers into the strings of the hoodie Dele had on to keep him close.

“Mm, couldn’t move but this time you were there too, I could just hear you calling for me but couldn’t move” Eric explained, pressing small kisses between his words, blinking quickly to counteract the fresh tears threatening to spill over.

Dele hummed and pressed smaller kisses over Eric’s lips, holding him closer. He shuffled them to they were laid on the bed facing each other, feet tangled together.

“Felt awful Del, I- worse than before because you needed me and I couldn’t—“ Eric trailed off, shaking his head as he moved to tuck his face into the curve of Dele’s neck.

Dele tutted, shaking his head as he tucked Eric as close to his chest as possible, hand trailing up and down the strong line of Eric’s spine. “Oh amor, don’t be silly that should make it obvious that it’s just a dream” Dele soothed him, kissing down the side of Eric’s face, wherever his lips could reach.

“Don’t know a single time you haven’t been there for me” he mumbled, thankful to feel Eric’s shaking breaths settling. “If I was calling for you you’d be right there no matter what or when. But it’s a nightmare so it’s not real amor, the idea that you wouldn’t be able to get to me when I need you- we both know that could never happen” he mumbled, voice thick with honesty.

“Besides, you’re forgetting something” Dele added, using his hand tug Eric from his neck, giving him another gentle kiss. 

“If you can’t get to me, I’ll always come to you” Dele said softly, “s’a two way street amor, you don’t always have to be the one looking out for me” his fingers tugged on Eric’s cheeks to pull him into another kiss, feeling him finally melt and let some of the tension from body as their tongues met.

Eric wrapped himself up as much as he could in Dele’s arms, making himself small in his boy’s hold, eyes closed tight as he breathed slowly. He felt safe like this, Dele wrapped around him, whispering sweet words to him between sweet kisses, bringing him back to himself slowly. 

“Yeah” Eric agreed in delay, voice ragged as he swallows roughly, tilting his chin up for another kiss, feeling Dele’s hand move to his hip.

“How about a shower huh? We can put fresh sheets on, get a proper sleep and get rid of that feeling” Dele suggested, knowing Eric would be too on edge to fall back asleep now, fearful of falling back into his nightmare.

Eric sighed and tucked his face into Eric’s neck, eyes closing for a moment as he pressed a mess of kisses along his collarbone. Dele was so good to him, he knew what Eric needed before he did himself, a shower sounded perfect.

“Yeah please, get in with me?” Eric asked, kissing a line up Dele’s throat to catch his mouth, licking into it when Dele’s lips dropped open. They kisses hot and slow, movements lazy for a few moments before Dele pulled back, eyes dark and lips wet. 

“Not hard to convince me” he breathed, leaning in for one last kiss before he piled away, smiling at the settled look on his boy’s face.

Eric finally was free of that look of terror and Dele know it would be easier now, get them in the shower and then settled into a freshly made bed for a few more hours sleep.

“Love you” Eric mumbled as he sat up, scrubbing a hand over his face as he peeled the covers off him.

“Love you” Dele replies, knocking into Eric with his hip when they are both standing, heart settling when he gets a small laugh out him.


End file.
